Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 93.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,564 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 3,661 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR traded down $3.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $238.41. 3,044,734 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,640,177. The firm has a market cap of $172.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $234.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $253.32. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $222.53 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher's revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DHR. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $286.80.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.